"War Locomotive", more than 3,000 of which were built between 1938 and 1942. The original intention of the BR52 locomotive is to save man-hours in manufacturing, reduce the requirements for the technical level of workers and reduce the use of precious metals on the basis of the BR50. In addition, the BR52 locomotive also allowed the locomotive members to more effectively resist the severe cold of the Russian winter, where the German army suffered a great loss from the extremely cold weather after a smooth initial invasion. From 1942 to the end of the war in 1945, a total of more than 6,300 BR52s were manufactured. Together with the locomotives produced in the early post-war period, the total number was as high as 6,719.
A total of 17 factories participated in the manufacture of BR52.